Okiro Moves Against Financial Fraud in Police Administration

By Eric Ojo

The Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Sir Mike Okiro has reiterated the commission’s resolve to curb and abolish all forms of financial fraud in the financial administration system of the Nigeria Police Force.

Sir Okiro said the PSC is working in close collaboration with the office of the Head of Service and the Accountant General of the Federation to enroll all members of the Nigeria police Force into the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) of the Federal Government as a way of eliminating cases of fraud in the financial administration of the Force.

Speaking while receiving the Senate Committee on Police Affairs, when it paid an oversight visit to the Commission, the PSC Chairman also disclosed that the Commission will soon work out a coherent Biometric data of the Nigeria police force personnel, which, according to him, will result in an easy accounting for all personnel of the Force and where they are deployed to at any point in time in Nigeria.

He equally restated the resolve of the Commission under his watch to stamp out all manners of behaviour unbecoming of law enforcement officers.  He condemned the despicable action of police personnel who was said to have assaulted a two year old girl in Nasarawa state.

He further reassured that the Commission under his watch has set a time limit of 90 days within which any disciplinary problem involving a police personnel must be resolved by the Force headquarters and forwarded to the Commission for a decision to be taken.

Sir Okiro however pointed out that an officer should not be denied promotion on the basis of prolonged unresolved disciplinary matter. He equally posited that an undisciplined Police officer should not be left in the force a day longer than necessary as a result of unsettled disciplinary matter.

In his response, Senator Paulinus Igwe Nwagu, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs commended the Okiro led management of the Commission for the bold steps it has taken in its four months of operation. The Committee Chairman summarized the views of his committee members by calling on the leadership of the Commission to work towards enthroning a people-friendly Nigeria Police Force that is alive to modern technology-driven crime pattern as presently witnessed all over the country.

Senator Nwagu also expressed the Committee’s support for Okiro’s resolve to come down heavily on all cases of police misconduct and called on the Commission to look critically at cases of stagnation of members of the Force of the Rank and file cadre as many of them have stayed on one rank for over ten (10) years, as this, according to him, leads to a frustrated and demoralized work force.